Lufthansa's new lounge @ JFK

I went to the opening party for this swish new premium lounge at JFK on the very same day that Captain Sully safely landed a US Airways jet on the Hudson. What a day for aviation!    

Read my short blog about the lounge, which I wrote for T: Travel's of-the-moment site.

Most American airport lounges are about as welcoming as the lobby of a La Quinta Inn. Which is why Lufthansa’s new $10 million lounge at Kennedy Airport’s Terminal 1 is pretty interesting news.                                

Bringing a taste of its specTACular first-class terminal in Frankfurt stateside, the triple-decker glass-walled space has three buffets, showers, a bar with actual bartenders and wi-fi everywhere. And it’s just one in a huge rollout of lounges happening over the next several months from Washington Dulles to Bombay. At a time when most carriers are cutting back, this is also a bit of encouraging news for the dismal business of aviation. (Of course, airlines never mind spending on the premium classes — they know which side their bread is buttered on.) And sure, not a lot of people are flying first right now, but before anyone starts hating on the forward cabins, keep in mind that you can get into the new lounge if you’re a Frequent Traveler (35,000 miles a year) on any Star Alliance carrier. And for those of us hopelessly stuck in the back of the plane, Lufthansa is also bringing back on-board broadband Internet access in every class. So, anyone been in any other great airport lounges lately?